When Love is the Only Answer
by SophieSaulie
Summary: A sequel to 30 Pieces of Silver. Sam and Dean are  back on track.


**When Love is the only Answer**

**A sequel to 30 Pieces of Silver**

"_I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice" – Abraham Lincoln_

"_Nothing is so strong as gentleness, nothing so gentle as real strength" – St. Francis de Sales_

_Light of the world, shine on me_

_Love is the answer_

_Shine on us all_

_Set us free_

_Love is the answer_

_-Love is the answer - __England Dan and John Ford Coley_

Dean looked at his baby brother and sighed. They had gone through a lot together. It amazed him how long ago so much of it felt and yet also how uncomfortably close they had come to being destroyed, both physically and especially psychologically. If it was possible to worry about and love his brother even more, he was. So many things were happening, to him with the transformation and to Sam with his guilt. All he wanted to do was to tell Sam just the right thing to make things better for him, but he knew there was nothing he could give Sam other than his presence and any reassurances that he could muster that he would always be there for him, that he would never leave him.

"Sam, first, I want you to know that no matter what happens, I'm here. I'm not going anywhere."

"I know that, Dean. I'm not going anywhere either. I'm in this to the end. It's just...I've been thinking..."

"About what?" Dean asked, feigning ignorance so he could hear Sam's explanation fairly and without judgment. He'd done enough of that already.

"I know this is going to sound crazy, maybe even wrong since I don't exactly have a stellar track record for making good choices lately, but...I've been thinking...maybe we...maybe I have to become Lucifer's vessel to end all this, to make things right."

"Why are taking all the blame for this? I broke the first seal. I started everything," Dean said supportively.

"I know, but maybe I need to end it."

"No, Sam, **we** need to end it. Whatever is happening to me, it's a part of it and you have to know, you're not the only one who feels responsible. This whole mess falls on us both. Neither one of us alone can put Lucifer back in his cage or stop the Apocalypse. I believe that with everything in me. I get why you need to do something, to make things right. After everything I did in Hell…believe me, I get it and I've never been prouder to call you my brother for wanting to own up, but in the end, it has to be us together on this. I believe it's the only way we can win this."

Sam listened to his brother and only felt pride and a sense of reassurance that no matter what happened, they would be together.

"Okay, we do this together, but you and me, we have to agree on one thing."

"And that is?" Dean said with feigned dread in his voice.

"No more kidding ourselves, okay? No more sugar coating that everything is going to turn out fine. We face whatever happens together, but if it means choosing the world over each other, the world has to come first no matter what. Deal?"

Dean looked into Sam's determined face and simultaneously saw his pouting baby brother who would dig in his heels no matter what to get his point across as well as the brother who had faced so many dark truths and had come out the other side a better man. He owed it to Sam to treat him like the grown man he was.

"Okay. Deal."

Sam then reached into his pocket and pulled out the amulet. Dean glanced at the amulet and then at Sam, feeling the guilt him. Shortly after throwing it away, Dean had regretted it. He had felt terrible for having thrown away the truest symbol of their brotherhood. He had been so angry and disappointed, but it didn't give him the right to slap Sam in the face by trashing the gift that Sam had given him. He had figured it was gone for good. A sudden sense of relief hit him as he realized that Sam had rescued it. That action alone meant more than Dean could express. Sam hadn't wanted to throw their relationship away on a stupid act of whim on Dean's part. Dean was grateful that Sam hadn't.

"Look, I don't blame you for throwing this away, but I just couldn't leave it at that. I kept hoping that one day I might be able to give it back, earn giving it back to you. Guess now's a good a time as any, but if you can't –"

Before Sam could finish, Dean gently took the amulet from Sam's grasp and stared at it.

"Nothing I've ever done in my life has made me feel more like a douchebag than when I threw this way. I'm sorry I did that, Sam, that I hurt you like that. I was being an ass," Dean said as he placed it over his head and felt the pendant hit his chest reassuringly. "It's never leaving my neck again."

Dean's eyes pooled with tears of regret and Sam heaved his own sigh of relief. The two of them were in the best place they had ever been. They both felt the strength building between them and they were both comforted.

"What's next?" Sam asked as he cleared his throat.

"We get Team Free Will back on track."

Sam just smiled. He had never felt so invincible. When he was drinking the demon blood, he had felt powerful, but empty. There was so satisfaction other than he was saving more human lives doing it his way than using Ruby's knife and that was slowly fading the more he used his powers. In that moment, having Dean there with him, having Dean declare that he had reclaimed Sam back as his brother by wearing the amulet again, he didn't crave a single drop of demon blood yet he felt that he could do anything. Maybe even save the world.

**FIN. This is was a quick sequel because I'm building towards a final sequel and wanted this to end on a high note. Thanks as always for reading. Hope you enjoyed it.**


End file.
